Whenever I read any writing having to do with feminism, I do a quick scan-through of the text, table of contents, or index to see whether and where issues of race are brought in. On the third page of the cyber edition of this Salon article I found it--and in a big and wonderfully blunt way--kicked off by Rebecca Walker:
In the interview, Walker continued, "The left is getting our collective ass kicked because of just this kind of romantic, naïve attachment to movement narratives and aesthetics of 20 and 30 years ago." She also pointed out that "many women of color do not feel an affinity with the term because, among other things, we know firsthand that people who call themselves feminists are not always our friends," she said. "They have not de facto done their work around race ... though [they] would become appalled if we suggested that some 'feminists' were also racist."
What do I do if, after my text scans, I do not see evidence that issues of race are discussed?
I do not read the piece.
Posted by perry032 at July 18, 2005 07:03 AM | TrackBackI saw that you won a dissertation fellowship. Congrats!
Posted by: Laurene at July 18, 2005 09:40 PMI have extremely similar reading habits when it comes to feminist works/gender studies. I'm about 50/50 on whether I read it or not. I think when I do read (well skim) feminists works that completely leave out women of color, it is for a better understanding of what gaps my own work needs to fill.
But I also do the same thing with books in Africana studies--especially works that are supposed to discuss Black history. I always look in the index first to see if any women are discussed. 9 times out of 10, no women, no read.
Posted by: Mon at July 20, 2005 01:00 AM